in general this is a step above most other television and I really give them credit for going for some great talent and ideas

ie carnivale, rome, sopranos, deadwood, ali g show for starters

and why?

12/8/2009 7:12:15 PM

The Wire

hands down

http://nymag.com/arts/all/aughts/62513/index1.html

12/8/2009 7:14:51 PM

Real Sex
Pimps Up, Hoes Down

[Edited on December 8, 2009 at 7:16 PM. Reason : .]

12/8/2009 7:16:08 PM

Quote :

"The Wire hands down"

12/8/2009 7:16:49 PM

Quote :

"The Wire hands down"

Watch the show and see why it was consistently ranked as one of the best shows by critics.

Also loved Flight of the Conchords


[Edited on December 8, 2009 at 7:34 PM. Reason : a]

12/8/2009 7:19:43 PM

Rome

But I love historical fiction.

12/8/2009 7:20:49 PM

CURB

YO

ENTHUSIASM

12/8/2009 7:21:08 PM

i'd say the sopranos, but i haven't seen the wire all the way through.

12/8/2009 7:26:34 PM

curb your enthusiasm
eastbound and down
flight of the conchords

[Edited on December 8, 2009 at 7:28 PM. Reason : ]

12/8/2009 7:27:52 PM

I've heard amazing things about The Wire and sadly have not seen it yet, so based on all that I've seen I'd have to go with Rome.

12/8/2009 7:29:08 PM

honorable mention to The Corner and The Sopranos

I also wouldn't call Ali G an original HBO show since he had a show in the UK where he invented Ali G, Borat and Bruno, and did a bunch of the same stuff

[Edited on December 8, 2009 at 7:42 PM. Reason : .]

12/8/2009 7:31:30 PM

the wire, carnivale, six feet under.

in that order probably. i would probably include deadwood but i'm only through one season.

and i've never gotten around to watching the sopranos straight through.

12/8/2009 8:04:00 PM

&



[Edited on December 8, 2009 at 8:04 PM. Reason : ]

12/8/2009 8:04:42 PM

They could probably make a pretty cool show starring Phil Leotardo, The Crypt Keeper, Avon Barksdale and Larry David. They could all just sit around and tell stories and crack jokes.

12/8/2009 8:06:11 PM

rome

12/8/2009 8:13:05 PM

tied between the sopranos and the wire

12/8/2009 8:20:03 PM

Tales from the Crypt... definitely

12/8/2009 8:20:49 PM

I gotta give some love for Deadwood here.

I'm not sure it could have matched The Wire's consistency over 5 seasons but I loved every single episode of this show.

I'd also probably put Curb Your Enthusiasm up there too.

12/8/2009 8:23:22 PM

nah. not really.

but it was cool to sneak watching that show when the parents weren't around.

12/8/2009 8:29:39 PM

Martin Tupper

12/8/2009 8:40:41 PM

Extras

12/8/2009 8:43:01 PM

Tie between The Wire and Six Feet Under

12/8/2009 8:53:09 PM

I'm gonna give the number one spot to Fraggle Rock. THE best.

Others that I love...

Band of Brothers (if this counts)
Mr. Show w/ Bob and David
Tenacious D
Real Sports w/ Bryant Gumbel
Sopranos
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Eastbound and Down
Oz
Extras

Catching up on The Wire and Entourage... so i can't speak for either of these.


The only ones I ever REALLY hated were the Larry Sanders show, and Arliss. ugh.

12/8/2009 8:58:18 PM

not for guys, obv

but it seems like Sex and the City is prob in the top 5 in hbo cultural impact

prob sopranos, sex, wire, curb and BOB or Oz, in some order.

12/8/2009 9:00:25 PM

THE WIRE

12/8/2009 9:10:48 PM

yeah I forgot about Mr. Show, thats definitely up there

12/8/2009 9:14:35 PM

Quote :

"The only ones I ever REALLY hated were the Larry Sanders show"

Man, I'd probably put Larry Sanders amongst the 10 best sitcoms ever.

But for best HBO original series, and probably the best show ever: The Wire

[Edited on December 8, 2009 at 9:17 PM. Reason : ...]

12/8/2009 9:16:35 PM

Sopranos, The Wire and I too will say Band of Brothers (if it counts)

12/8/2009 9:17:07 PM

easily. its not even a question.

12/8/2009 10:31:08 PM

The wire, duh.


rome, deadwood, band of brothers are all good.

12/8/2009 11:09:44 PM

Quote :

"The Wire hands down"

followed by Sopranos and Oz.

12/8/2009 11:36:19 PM

THE WIRE is amazing. It is better and more uniquely performed, produced, and written than anything that has ever come on Television. It picks very specific messages and metaphors and runs with them. No show has documented a city or a culture better.

But ... SOPRANOS. That shit's batting on a whole other level, and, johnnycakes excepting, got fucking BRUTAL toward the end. It is farfarfarfar more toward the ca-razy end of the "I can't believe they put this on TV and people like it" scale than the Wire. It's like THERE WILL BE BLOOD having a catch phrase on a t-shirt ... hey, I'm not complaining if it means we get more output from the people making these amazing things.

The Wire asks you to open your mind and think a little; Sopranos bends your brain sideways and then knocks it around with a baseball bat.

12/9/2009 10:31:41 AM

Was Dennis Miller originally on HBO?

12/9/2009 10:34:36 AM

Quote :

"It's like THERE WILL BE BLOOD having a catch phrase on a t-shirt .."

lol

12/9/2009 10:39:17 AM

Rome, Band of Brothers, Sopranos, Hung ( )

12/9/2009 10:48:28 AM

The Sopranos isn't just the best HBO original series.

It is the greatest show ever made.

(The last season was :eh: but very few shows ever end on a good note)

12/9/2009 10:58:55 AM

The Sopranos hands down, there is nothing that comes close to it

12/9/2009 11:05:37 AM

except deadwood that exceeds it and anything else on this channel

12/9/2009 11:08:12 AM

Where's the love for Big Love?

12/9/2009 11:08:44 AM

The Wire.

12/9/2009 11:14:43 AM

12/9/2009 11:17:26 AM

six feet under

12/9/2009 11:45:40 AM

Rome

12/9/2009 11:51:53 AM

^ Rome was really great, but theres a finite story...

12/9/2009 11:56:50 AM

Sex & the City (much, much better on HBO because TBS cuts out all the best parts)
Real Sex

Don't they make Cathouse? That shows always cracks me up

12/9/2009 12:22:44 PM

Quote :

"^ Rome was really great, but theres a finite story..."

Every show has a finite story...however, with Rome there was soooo much more they could have done. They ended the show before the height of Octavian's rule.

12/9/2009 12:25:53 PM

I mean lots of shows can keep on adding new shit, 24..., but a show based on historical events can only tell so much, sure they could have drawn it out, I wish they had, but oh well

12/9/2009 12:41:08 PM

^My point is they wouldn't have been drawing it out because there is so much more they could have done. I mean the Roman empire didn't last a day

Most shows are the same shit different day...but something as epic as the Roman empire deserves to be more than a 2 part mini-series.

[Edited on December 9, 2009 at 12:53 PM. Reason : .]

12/9/2009 12:53:19 PM

Six Feet Under

[Edited on December 9, 2009 at 1:11 PM. Reason : the final episode is the best series finale of any show of all time]

12/9/2009 1:10:48 PM

^^ I guess they didn't want to make a historical documentary, just build on the drama of the period.

12/9/2009 3:07:46 PM